Internationalizing the science curriculum: Student and Staff perceptions
Dr Graham Scott1 & Dr Marina Mozzon-Mcpherson2
1Department
of Biological Sciences, University of Hull; 2 Department of
Modern Languages, University of Hull
Abstract
In an attempt to understand desire for and barriers to the internationalization of
university science curricula we present the initial findings of qualitative and
quantitative explorations of the perceptions of both students and staff to the
integration of modern languages and intercultural competence in biological
science.
Context
The internationalization agenda is a priority for Higher Education1. iThere is a
growing demand for graduates with the skills and confidence to operate in a
global economy and across cultures. Internationalization is an integral part of the
policy and strategic plan of the University of Hull and it is increasingly becoming
part of the academic discourse. However, embedding internationalization policies
into the academic practices of an institution requires a strategic, staged approach
permeating academic and management processes and structures to impact upon
the way in which the curriculum within a discipline is conceptualised, designed
and delivered. We therefore take the view that internationalization is a pervasive
process in which an understanding of cultural differences (Lambert, 1994;
Lapointe 1994; Jones and Brown 2007) is central to the individual’s ability to
maximise their potential at both the personal and professional level (Badley
2000).
Some disciplines (business, law and languages for example) have obvious
international relevance and curricula readily developed to incorporate an
international perspective. In the sciences however it is often less obvious to
students, and perhaps to their tutors, that they could potentially be preparing
themselves for a career in a multinational company with interests in several
countries. In some disciplines therefore, the internationalization of the curriculum
may be more of a challenge. Recent figures provided by the CBI2 continue to
indicate a reliance (75%) of UK trade upon exports to countries where English is
1
www.hm-treasury.gov.uk, Undergraduate Physics Enquiry, www.iop.org, Dearing Review,
www.dfes.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2006_0144,
http://languages.nuffieldfoundation.org/filelibrary/pdf/languages_finalreport.pdf
2
http://www.cbi.org.uk/pdf/skills_report0408.pdf: CBI Report Taking Stock: CBI education and
skills survey 2008
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Scott & Mozzon-McPherson, Internationalizing the science curriculum, Wednesday 02 July 2008
not the first language. Graduate proficiency in one or more additional languages
and competence in inter-cultural skills is therefore high on the CBI agenda and
key to the competitiveness of UK PLC. However, it has been noted that few
universities have directly addressed the development of inter-culturally
competent students as an anticipated outcome of internationalization (Caruana,
2004).
Despite its significance in terms of graduate employability3 reviews (Caruana &
Hanstock, 2003; Caruna 2003) reveal little empirical research addressing the
embedding of international perspectives in teaching and learning. In relation to
internationalization, the focus is often subject content rather than skills, attitudes
and behaviours. Caruna (2003) reports a failing on the part of the literature to
present a cross-discipline understanding of the key terms and concepts of an
internationalized curriculum and thus there is currently no clear consensus on the
meaning of the term internationalization in HE. Much of the work so far has
concentrated on understanding and evaluating the support provided to
international students studying in an English-speaking country (Bourn, et al 2006;
Deardorff 2006); whilst internationalization for home students is often achieved
by study abroad and exchange programmes, or by on-campus cultural events
(Wächter 2003). The role of various stakeholders (professional bodies,
employers) in driving and informing internationalized curriculum design is not
often considered.
Consequently, the most challenging aspect of internationalization seems to be in
designing a curriculum that enables all students (home and overseas) to gain an
awareness of the impact of globalisation and the confidence to operate in an
international context, as well as gaining an appreciation of the importance of
language and intercultural competence skills in a specific discipline context. This
is the ultimate aim of our project; an aim that we hope to achieve by designing a
curriculum which meets the needs of an international student body but addresses
the skills of the ‘global graduate’4.
Our starting point, and the aim of this paper, is the examination of discipline
specific beliefs and the assumptions of students and their tutors in relation to
both the global market and the skills required to function effectively in that
market. We believe that this reflection is a crucial first step towards the
internationalization of the curriculum and that only by exposing and confronting
the ‘myths’ inherent within disciplines can we begin to explore the notion of an
internationalized curriculum and how it might be effectively delivered by inter3
Issue 5 of the Academy Exchange magazine on Internationalization, Winter 2006 (PDF 2.1MB)
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/resources/publications/exchange/web0523_
exchange_issue_5.pdf
4
DfES, Putting the World into World-class Education, Prime Minister’s Initiative 2, April 2006,
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/internationalstrategy; http://www.hefce.ac.uk/finance/fundinghe/sdf/
2
Scott & Mozzon-McPherson, Internationalizing the science curriculum, Wednesday 02 July 2008
disciplinary teaching teams. Our project focus is on the ‘the home student’ and
academics in four science disciplines (Biology, Physics, Chemistry, and Sports
Science), but in this paper we present a reflection upon the outcome of
preliminary questionnaires completed by first year biological sciences
undergraduates and the staff who teach them. Through this qualitative and
quantitative information we hope to gain an insight into the previous experiences
of students with respect to modern foreign languages, their attitudes towards
internationalization and their aspirations in giving their study and work life after
university an international context. We also examine some attitudes towards
internationalization by the lecturers who teach these students.
In the experience of one of the authors (GS) U.K. biology students are unwilling
to take part in international exchanges (involvement in an exchange agreement
with the University of Lille, France, during the 1990’s resulted in one or two
students coming to the department from France annually, but only one student
from the UK made the reciprocal exchange in 5 years). Paradoxically, however,
biology students often express the desire to work abroad after graduation (see
below).
Survey of students
Questionnaires were completed by 35 first year undergraduate students (18
male, 17 female, all UK nationals with English as their first language) of the
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Hull. These students have all
enrolled to complete BSc degrees in Biology, Marine and Freshwater Biology or
Aquatic Zoology. In this paper we make no attempt to distinguish between
students on the basis of gender, age or the nature of their educational
experience prior to university. We note however that in spite of the growing
popularity of pre-university gap years only three of these students reported work
experience abroad; one had undertaken voluntary work in South Africa, another
had worked in Mexico and the third had worked on a fish farm in Indonesia.
Respondents did however express a positive attitude towards other nationalities
with 94% of students agreeing that they would like to get to know people from
different parts of the world.
Previous modern language experience
31 of the respondents reported previous experience of one or more foreign
languages (Table 1). (In addition one student reported Latin as a modern
language). Four students had no previous foreign language experience. All 31
respondents had followed a language to GCSE level, but only three and four
reported study to AS and A level respectively.
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Scott & Mozzon-McPherson, Internationalizing the science curriculum, Wednesday 02 July 2008
Language
N. students
French
German
Spanish
Greek
Dutch
23
14
7
1
1
Table 1. Languages previously studied by students, some students have studied two languages,
usually French and German.
When asked why they had not taken their foreign language study further, seven
students responded that they found languages difficult and did not enjoy learning
them. Two students said that they did not have the opportunity to follow a
language at AS/A level in the school/college that they attended. Eight students
stated that they had to make a choice between sciences and languages.. It was
not always clear whether students gave up languages because of external
constraint/advice or because they freely chose to.
When asked to reflect upon their previous experience of language study by
indicating the level to which they agreed/disagreed with statements exploring
self-perceptions of enjoyment and ability as language students 50% indicated
that they did not enjoy learning languages at school. In spite of this 66% of
students claimed that they were good at languages at school; and 74% stated
that they enjoy the opportunity to speak a language other than my own when on
holiday. Importantly the students did on the whole recognise the myth that
everyone speaks English (72% of respondents).
Student attitudes to languages and internationalization.
Through our questionnaire we have explored student attitudes to
internationalization in the contexts of both their current studies and their career
aspirations:
Languages and current studies.
55% of the students questioned expressed the opinion that the teaching of
science (biology in this context) at undergraduate level did not require an
international dimension. Given that the academic structure of the University of
Hull does permit science students to elect to take one language module (20 of
120 credits) in each year of study we asked students whether in their opinion
languages as they are currently taught reflected their needs only 38% of them
agreed that they did. When asked if their tutors encouraged the study of a
language students expressed the strong opinion that they did not (90%). This is a
cause for concern, but when asked the reciprocal question 90% of them also
agreed that their tutor did not discourage the study of a language. It is possible
that this reflects a weakness in our questionnaire, but in the current context we
interpret it as meaning that it is possible that tutors are somewhat ambivalent to
the study of languages (but see below).
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Scott & Mozzon-McPherson, Internationalizing the science curriculum, Wednesday 02 July 2008
Languages and future employment.
36% of students felt that an additional language was irrelevant to them because
they intended to work in the UK or in an English speaking country, and only 39%
of them thought that languages were likely to be important for their chosen
career. However 88% of them acknowledged that speaking a foreign language
would give them more flexibility in employment opportunities. 61% of
respondents did not feel that a foreign language was a usual employment
requirement in vacancy advertisements.
At this stage in their studies a number of the students stated that they had “a
clear career goal in mind”. Two intended to become biology teachers, five wanted
to complete further biology degrees (taught masters programmes and/or
research degrees) and seven aimed to work in a conservation related field.
Seven of the students expressed a desire to work abroad, listing America,
Australia, and the Mediterranean countries as their preferred destinations.
Biology teaching staff and the internationalization of the curriculum.
The department of Biological Sciences at the University of Hull has a strong
international context. Of the 25 staff who contribute directly to first year biology
teaching 16 are UK nationals and others are nationals of The Netherlands (2),
Germany (5), Iran and Brazil. In addition students may interact with a multinational team of postgraduate demonstrators during laboratory practical classes.
Five of the eight lecturers who completed our questionnaire stated that English
was their first language and of these only one reported that they considered
themselves competent in languages other than English (French and Swedish).
The three respondents who declared that English was not their first language
claimed competence in French (2), German (2), Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese
(and of course all of them were also extremely proficient in English as an
additional language). One of these colleagues also reported a basic competence
in Dutch, Danish and Russian.
Seven of these colleagues agreed that biology is an international subject and that
biology at undergraduate level requires an international dimension. They also
agreed that an awareness of the non-UK context of biology would advantage
their students as undergraduates and postgraduates. All eight colleagues agreed
that such an awareness would advantage the students in terms of their
employment prospects. Similarly, seven of them agreed that the ability to
confidently use an additional language would advantage students in relation to
their employment prospects but they were less sure about the value of speaking
an additional language as an advantage in postgraduate (5) or undergraduate
studies (3). When asked if they encouraged their tutees to take a modern
languages free elective module only one of them said that they did (interestingly
a UK national with no additional language). Two of them had no opinion and the
remainder (5) said that they did not. Two of these colleagues said that they would
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Scott & Mozzon-McPherson, Internationalizing the science curriculum, Wednesday 02 July 2008
encourage those students expressing an interest in languages in future. The
languages considered by colleagues as most useful to our students are listed in
Table 2.
When asked if they would like to see language modules made available to
students as part of their degree, 1 colleague responded positively, 1 expressed
no opinion and the remainder said that they would not. Of these, 3 colleagues
were concerned that this would squeeze of the biological content from a
curriculum that they thought already lacked discipline specific knowledge; one of
them thought that there was little point in doing this because biology as an
international subject seems largely to be conducted in English.
When suggesting languages that would be of most benefit to students (see Table
2) colleagues suggested that French, German and Spanish would enable
students to widen their employment prospects in the EU and S America. There
seemed to be a consensus that, as a result of the historical dominance of English
as the language of science , students would benefit most from a general
awareness of cultural distinctiveness and language for social/business use.
Colleagues identified the facilitation of placements, exchanges and jointly offered
degree programmes involving EU partner countries as the main areas for
development in terms of internationalization of the biology curriculum.
The opinions expressed by colleagues highlight the need to involve university
staff, (as well as students), in the development of new knowledge, skills, attitudes
and values. Staff development strategies are therefore an important and integral
part of the process of internationalizing the curriculum. This is certainly an
important consideration if we are to ensure that international perspectives
permeate both the teaching methodology and content of academic disciplines,
and the structure and organisation of programmes of study. From these initial
responses it is apparent that the focus and preoccupation of staff is on the
acquisition and transmission of knowledge of their own subject; it would be
interesting to explore how they view such content in relation to global markets
and to graduate employability and how they might see the internationalization of
their curriculum as a positive enhancement rather than an impoverishment.
In order to assist staff to understand how we might internationalize specific
science curricula it might be necessary to challenge the way they think about
teaching in general and teaching sciences in particular (Ramsden, 1992).
Future prospects; barriers and possibilities
Our students have a positive attitude towards speaking foreign languages when
abroad on holiday and they would like to get to know people from other parts of
the world. On the whole however, they are not particularly driven towards work
outside of the U.K., and, generally those that do express an aspiration to work
abroad seem to be erring towards English- speaking countries and/or familiar
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Scott & Mozzon-McPherson, Internationalizing the science curriculum, Wednesday 02 July 2008
Mediterranean holiday destinations. When we asked those students who would
not currently be comfortable working abroad to provide a reason, anxieties about
language use were the most common. Eight of 14 respondents cited lack of
language, or sufficient language competence/confidence as the main barrier to
their working abroad. Of the remainder, two did not provide a reason two cited
cultural/political issues and one would not feel comfortable working abroad
because English people are not popular. It seems clear that one of the key
barriers that an internationalized science curriculum must overcome is the missmatch in the views of tutors who are keen to promote mobility and students who
may be reluctant to be mobile within a programme.
Nevertheless, when asked questions about the kind of language tuition that they
might like to see as a part of their undergraduate studies, and then asked about
the possibility of placements/work abroad, their attitudes shift slightly (perhaps
as a result of their reflection during the completion of the questionnaire?).
When questioned about adding to their programme a language module for
scientists , 84% of the students who responded to the question said yes.
Furthermore, 85% of them stated that they would be prepared to undertake work
experience overseas (26% of them would restrict themselves to English speaking
countries). The languages that the students said they would like to study,
together with some indications of their reasons for this selection are given in
Table 2 alongside the languages that their tutors suggested would be most useful
to them.
Language
French
German
Spanish
Students
6
5
14
Italian
Greek
Dutch
1
1
1
Reasons given by students
Build on previous study, widely used
Build on previous experience
Widely used, particularly in S. America, build on
prior study
Staff
3
2
4
Build on previous experience, the Dutch carry out
lots of scientific research
Interest
Significant future competitor
Interest
To understand scientific terms
Russian
1
1
Chinese/Mandarin
4
4
Japanese
1
1
Latin/Classical Greek
3
American (scientific
1
terminology)
Sign Language
1
Widely used globally
Table 2. Languages that students would like to study and the reasons that they would like to
study them. The column headed “Staff” indicates those languages that colleagues thought would
be of most benefit to students.
Table 3 provides an insight to the topics that students would not and would like to
see in a language module designed as part of their biology curriculum.
Preferences appear to be for conversational rather than written learning and for a
focus on scientifically relevant topics rather than general language to support life
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Scott & Mozzon-McPherson, Internationalizing the science curriculum, Wednesday 02 July 2008
overseas. This does suggest a certain naivety on the part of at least some
students who perhaps have not realized that there would be more to working
abroad than work! The social/lifestyle aspects of working abroad rather than the
ability to ‘talk science’ were highlighted as being important by tutors.
Would not like to see in a module


Would like to see in a module

“rubbish phrases like how much is that
bagel?” and phrases for ordering food
and drink
Inappropriate words
Biological/scientific language/words

More interaction with speakers of the
language and more conversation
experience
 Topics unrelated to science
 Vocabulary and grammar
 A focus on grammar
 Basic language based on speaking and
listening not writing
 Learning random vocabulary irrelevant
 Scientific report writing in another
to the study of science
language

 Numbers

 Blackboard (VLE) slides/pages in other
languages
Table 3. Student preferences for content areas in a language module specifically designed as
part of a biology curriculum.
Concluding remarks
This preliminary analysis of our data has identified some interesting challenges
for us to address in the second phase of our project; through the development of
an interdisciplinary (linguists and scientists) and cross-sector team (academics,
employers and students) group brought together to develop an internationalized
curriculum.
Specifically, the internationalization of the science curriculum will require staff to
focus on teaching and learning processes as well as content (Alderson 1996). It
will need to be simultaneously more reflective and practice-based when it
addresses and assesses inter-cultural competence as a graduate skill if we are
to develop international perspectives in our science students. It will need to take
into account the bigger picture as well as the details of the subject.
Acknowledgements – We would like to thank the Innovations Funding Scheme
which allowed us to carry out this preliminary sudy, Professor Tina Overton
(Chemistry), Ms Angela Clough (Sports Science), Dr David Sands (Physics) for
contributing to this research investigation, Dr Claudia Capancioni, the research
assistant who helped us with the data analysis, the students and staff who
completed the questionnaire and Dr Raymond Goulder who suggested useful;
revisions of the manuscript.
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Scott & Mozzon-McPherson, Internationalizing the science curriculum, Wednesday 02 July 2008
i
www.hm-treasury.gov.uk, Undergraduate Physics Enquiry, www.iop.org, Dearing Review,
www.dfes.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2006_0144,
http://languages.nuffieldfoundation.org/filelibrary/pdf/languages_finalreport.pdf
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